n.
- a person who shows people to their seats in a cinema or theatre or at a wedding.
- Brit. a person employed to walk before a person of high rank on special occasions.
- an official in a law court who swears in jurors and witnesses and keeps order.
- archaic an assistant teacher.
v.
- show or guide somewhere.
-
(usher something in)
cause or mark the start of something new.
Etymology
ME (denoting a doorkeeper): from Anglo-Norman Fr. usser, from med. L. ustiarius, from L. ostiarius, from ostium ‘door’.